diff --git a/plugin/bin/x-pack/croneval b/plugin/bin/x-pack/croneval
index 28190c12986..c8743e3423c 100755
--- a/plugin/bin/x-pack/croneval
+++ b/plugin/bin/x-pack/croneval
@@ -76,6 +76,10 @@ fi
 
 declare -a args=("$@")
 
+if [ -e "$CONF_DIR" ]; then
+  args=("${args[@]}" --path.conf "$CONF_DIR")
+fi
+
 cd "$ES_HOME" > /dev/null
 "$JAVA" $ES_JAVA_OPTS -cp "$ES_CLASSPATH" -Des.path.home="$ES_HOME" org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.trigger.schedule.tool.CronEvalTool "${args[@]}"
 status=$?